These ideas are inspired by How To Read Literature Like A Professor.
Seasons Matter
1. Winter- death, dying, loneliness, no growth
2. Spring- new life, new possibilities, youth, joy, awakened
3. Summer- full bloom, full of promise, young adulthood, “perfection”
4. Fall- middle age, wisdom, experience, slowness of time, “beauty in the defects”
These I think are easier to understand if you live in a climate that has four separate and distinct seasons. There is a beauty and rhythm to the year that helps put lives in perspective. It is the same for characters. Authors choose for certain things to be revealed during certain seasons for a reason. It adds to the message that is between the lines. The things your supposed to understand without being told.
Think about it in romance novels affairs rarely happen in the middle of winter, but almost always begin in Spring or early Summer. And as we will get to later an affair is not about the sex, but about what the main character is feeling and learning about themselves. In fairytales the prince rarely shows up in the dead of Winter, but a witch often does. There is a reason, so when the author takes time to set up which season of the year it is, ask yourself why....
A few of my favorite novels that use seasons as critical parts of the theme are Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, The Snow Queen, Anne of Green Gables, Touching Spirit Bear and Mists of Avalon. A few movies that come to mind are Snow White, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Serendipity, The Sound of Music and Jacob the Liar.
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